Various Artists - Misguided Wish for Fire's Song - 2024 Pt. 1 (2024)

My car is an '04 Corolla that has no Bluetooth and no AUX. It has the radio and a CD player. Sure, I could get a new stereo system installed, but I've weirdly fallen back in love with the art of the mix CD. No matter how well they come together, Spotify playlists always feel unfinished to me, whereas with a mix CD, you finalize a playlist and actually create a physical artifact of it. Much more satisfying. Less practical, of course, but more satisfying.

So this is the most recent one that I've made, and it's a collection of some of my favorite songs that have been released this year so far. It's not comprehensive, and it definitely wasn't made for public consumption, but it hasn't left my CD player for two weeks now, and it's what I have for you. Here's a quick rundown of the track list. Sorry if this is weird, I don't know what the hell life is anymore.

1. Lætitia Sadier - "Cloud 6"

The last song on Rooting for Love, which is probably my favorite Sadier solo record. The abrupt, borderline jump-scare ending is brilliant.

2. Amaro Freitas - "Sonho Ancestral"

Brazilian jazz piano. Buoyant and reflective.

3. Grandaddy - "Long as I'm Not the One"

A shiny, mid-paced sad-sack ballad among a collection of shiny, mid-paced sad-sack ballads.

4. Gesaffelstein - "Hard Dreams"

Reminds me of the golden age of electroclash.

5. Chelsea Wolfe - "Whispers in the Echo Chamber"

From the whispered breakdown to the riff-y ending that quickly redlines: she's in her NIN era.

6. meth. - "Shame"

Devastating, merciless noise-sludge. Title track from what's probably my AOTY at the moment.

7. Mizu - "Pump"

Ambient cello/electronics/field recordings.

8. Itasca - "Tears on Sky Mountain"

Weightless, gently psychedelic folk rock. The song from which I lifted the pretentious name for this mix. Again, I wasn't planning on sharing this when I made it.

9. Julia Holter - "Something in the Room She Moves"

Y'all probably know this one.

10. Kelly Moran - "Dancer Polynomials"

Hypnotic, cascading piano.

11. Ildganger - "Dans Om Tomhedens Mund"

Depressive, atmospheric, anxious yet majestic, raw-ish black metal.

12. Elegý - "Ship of Hopes"

Melodic, epic DSBM/post-BM.

13. Lila Ehjä - "Rust"

Slow-burning electro-darkwave track that takes on a shoegaze-like wall of guitar as it progresses.

14. Six Organs of Admittance - "Slip Away"

A spacious, haunting, acoustic-led psych-folk elegy that tends to make me cry.

Hopefully this doesn't result in Google deleting my blog. Enjoy!

I'm not fucking around

We're halfway dead

Six Organs of Admittance - For Octavio Paz (2004)

Related:
Badgerlore - Of Things Too Sorrowful to Be Reminded of, and Things Too Beautiful to Possess (2003)
Six Organs of Admittance - RTZ (2009)

Still my favorite Six Organs record. A deeply meditative sequence of sparse, deftly picked pieces for solo acoustic guitar, with little-to-no accoutrements.

Track listing:
1. Fire on Rain
2. When You Finally Return
3. Memory, Memory, Memory
4. The Night Knows Nothing at All
5. Elk River
6. They Fixed the Broken Windmill Today
7. Rain on Fire
8. The Acceptance of Absolute Negation

Hum a silent prayer

You should also listen to:

Sandy Bull -
Inventions (1965)

Jim O'Rourke -
Bad Timing (1997)

Six Organs of Admittance - RTZ (2009)

RTZ is a collection of early Six Organs of Admittance (aka multi-instrumentalist Ben Chasney)'s 4-track recordings, culled from various splits, EPs, and the like. Seven songs, and just under two hours of music. Deftly picked acoustic guitars, swirling atmospherics, soaring electric solos, Chasney's haunted vocals, and too many other instruments and sounds for me to bother listing. Arguably Six Organs' most challenging and intensely psychedelic release.

Track listing:
1. Resurrection
2. Warm Earth, Which I've Been Told
3. You Can Always See the Sun
4. Punish the Chasms with Wings
5. Redefinition of Being
6. Creation Aspect Earth
7. Creation Aspect Fire

Distance between here and never